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64 Wayne L. Rev. 127 (2018-2019)
Who Conducts Oversight: Bill-Writers, Lifers, and Nailbiters

handle is hein.journals/waynlr64 and id is 135 raw text is: WHO CONDUCTS OVERSIGHT? BILL-WRITERS, LIFERS, AND NAILBITERS BRIAN D. FEINSTEINt I. IN TRODU CTION .................................................................................. 127 II. H Y POTH ESES ..................................................................................... 128 Ill. RESEARCH D ESIGN .......................................................................... 131 IV . R E SU LTS .......................................................................................... 139 V . C ON CLU SION .................................................................................... 147 The landmark Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 charges Congress, through its standing committees, to exercise continuous watchfulness over the executive branch. Yet, committees differ markedly in their performance of this responsibility; the modal House committee does not convene oversight hearings in the typical year, while other committees holds dozens of hearings. This Article compares the characteristics of committee chairs that pursue oversight vigorously with those that do not. Surprisingly, I find that chairs' previous prosecutorial or other legal experience has no discemable connection with oversight activity. Instead, committees that engage in frequent oversight tend to be chaired by productive lawmakers (bill-writers), members with long tenures in office (lifers), and members facing competitive elections (nailbiters). Should congressional leaders desire to increase their branch's role in governance after the passage of laws, they ought to encourage members with these characteristics to chair committees. I. INTRODUCTION By now, it's an old story: Congress delegates enormous authority to the executive branch,1 then shirks its responsibility to monitor these delegations.2 Proposals to encourage Congress to better perform its f Assistant Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. This Article was prepared for the Wayne Law Review Symposium on Congressional Oversight in the 21st Century, held at the Levin Center at Wayne State University Law School, March 23, 2018. I thank Elise Bean, Lauren Bell, Kimberly Breedon, Christopher Bryant, Kathleen Clark, Kevin Kosar, William Marshall, and Andrew McCanse Wright for helpful comments, and James Feinstein for his good cheer. 1. See Kathryn A. Watts, Rulemaking at Legislating, 103 GEO. L.J. 1003, 1003 (2015). 2. See, e.g., THEoDoRE J. Lowi, THE END OF LIBERALISM: THE SECOND REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED STATES (1979); JOINT COMM. ON THE ORG. OF CONG., ORGANIZATION OF THE CONGRESS: FINAL REPORT (1993) (quoting Government Operations Committee chair John

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